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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Messages - tinsoldier

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16
I want to see a new battle mode that's like pursuit but instead the SB fleet has to fly *through* yours to the other side of the map and they have permanent burn drive ability so long as they don't deviate course too much or collide with you accidentally  ;D

17
It's interesting to see how many folks like to let the AI drive for them.  I got a friend to buy the game and he decided pretty quickly that the AI was a lot better at piloting then him so he just lets the AI pilot even his own ship (long story short, he's having lots of other issues with the learning curve).  I think there will probably always be a population of players that prefer to play that way.  I like to drive my own ships around and even though I'm Industry/tech/leader focused (no-combat skills at all until recently since I hacked max level) I'm generally more competent than the AI with the exception being the hero battlestations where the additional shield/flux/damage/range made my officer driven Paragon more effective than mine.

I kind of like the idea of not displacing officers when you take control of their ship.  I had a lot of the same complaints in the 0.8 feedback thread about that feeling of dissonance where you want to pilot the ships but you've invested in the non-combat skills so it feels like a penalty when you pilot in lieu of your officers.  Being able to piggy back off your officer's skills could help with that.  Although I think the counter-argument from others would be that having some sort of consequence or opportunity cost to skill choices contributes to replayability. 

Perhaps another option, maybe in addition to OPs, could be to have separate leveling/experience rewards for different types of skill types (i.e. combat, industry, etc).  In other words, an Elder Scrolls Oblivion/Skyrim style of "use it more to level it more".  If you constantly pilot your own ships then you receive lots of exp towards the combat skills, if you frequently employ and deploy officers then you get exp towards leadership, if you make lots of sweet trade deals then you get exp towards industry, and finally, if you explore lots of beacons and stations and what not then you get tech exp.

18
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 05, 2017, 01:54:56 PM »
Mining will probably be added, but more likely in the  fashion of establishing, managing and protecting a mining facility of some sort. Blasting rocks yourself tends to get boring quickly.

It would be useful for long-distance fleets if it could allow the player to replenish supplies/fuel particularly if stranded but also maybe as a mechanism for deep space expeditions

19
Suggestions / Re: Guard-Fleets
« on: May 05, 2017, 09:18:13 AM »
Alex said somewhere that, the more chaos you cause in a single system, the more and more fleets (and bigger ones) start appearing to patrol in an attempt to keep things slightly better.  I think he also said that, if you rip things up enough, the faction you're using as a punching bag will start ordering it's fleets to purposely find and pursue you.  I do remember the time when I started a ruckus at Eos Exodus, then all of a sudden a Luddic fleet pips in on the radar with a pair of Onslaughts and a whole lot of cruisers and destroyers.  Didn't managed to escape (or save scum, for that matter), so I lost a significant hunk of my fleet.  At least the Legion that I'd salvaged just a couple minutes before from a previous battle served well as a meatshield, which combined with a few ill-fated escort frigates let a majority of the larger ships in my fleet escape.  Learned that day that the Ludds really hate me.

Not to say, though, that I wouldn't mind a Luddic Inquisitor to start hunting me as the Vengeful status says. :)

I've definitely seen this behavior.  When I'm driving around in my mega fleet and a stupid teeny tiny Persean patrol thinks they can stop me because of my transponder, I let them know what I think about that.  Then another, and another, and then they started to get big enough that it was annoying.

Incidentally, the tiny-dog-syndrome of patrols is a whole other issue imho.

20
Suggestions / Re: Maneuvering Jets
« on: May 05, 2017, 09:12:22 AM »
Why small jets should move ship instead of main engines? It is not a second engine set they just turn ship and help with movement a little for a limited time. This subsystem require engines to work why it shouldn't?

They're just arguing that the ability should help "turn the ship and help with movement a little for a limited time" even if the main engines are out.  Obviously, if the main engines are out then the total max speed and maneuverability would be less than it ordinarily is but it would be better than nothing. 

Keep in mind, we don't really know how these ships are designed and arguments based on realism only go so far.  OP was raising the issue particularly because the Maneuvering Jets ability is a pretty weak ability and is one of the few that doesn't work when flamed out.  By allowing the player to acquire minimal maneuverability when flamed out but firing off the ability, it adds value to the ship ability.

21
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 04, 2017, 04:40:08 PM »
Well this one is composed mostly of carriers with a capital ship that does some damage,however as you can see fighters are a powerful swarm.

Interesting, I guess your point stands!  Although it's worth noting that player modded something, he has 300 op points available for that battle and you normally only get 120 (unless there's some mechanic I don't understand, *I* only got 120).  That said, he only used like 122 (that still means one free ship! nyah).  He also has incredible range on those 4! tachyon lances, I bet he could've done it with the Paragon alone.

However, he did have 72 OP worth of carriers and with that much invested don't you think that they should contribute meaningfully to the fight particularly when escorted by the most powerful ship in the game?  Without the Paragon I still don't think the carriers alone would've had any chance.

22
Suggestions / Re: Maneuvering Jets
« on: May 04, 2017, 04:14:11 PM »
Burn Drive? Plasma Jets? Not sure if there are others but if your ship system augments your engines and your engines and burnt out, you shouldn't be able to move.

I agree with you on Burn Drive/Plasma Jets, but technically Maneuvering Jets is animated as if it uses separate dedicated thrusters so OP's request isn't terribly unreasonable for that perspective.  Just sayin'.

Actually, for the comedy value, should make it so that igniting Burn Drive when flamed out makes a big ass plasma vapor explosion and doubles the effect.

23
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 04, 2017, 04:11:09 PM »
5. I love fighters but it seems that you can just roll with 4 or more carriers and win most fights,even the final battle.It's on you tube if you want to see.I get people want to play how they want to play but I think
    fighter are to op that's just my opinion.

I'm assuming you mean the [redacted] battlestation?  Do you have a link to the vid?  All I see are folks beating the damaged station with frigates/fighters.  I find it hard to believe you could beat the hero one with fighters (or frigates for that matter).

24
Suggestions / Re: Ability: Fleet Detachment
« on: May 04, 2017, 03:16:21 PM »
But what if the computer could do the same thing :(  It could make early game pretty tough. I like it.

25
Suggestions / Re: Maneuvering Jets
« on: May 04, 2017, 03:13:50 PM »
Burn Drive? Plasma Jets? Not sure if there are others but if your ship system augments your engines and your engines and burnt out, you shouldn't be able to move.

I agree with you on Burn Drive/Plasma Jets, but technically Maneuvering Jets is animated as if it uses separate dedicated thrusters so OP's request isn't terribly unreasonable for that perspective.  Just sayin'.

26
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 04, 2017, 08:27:16 AM »
Your notion of a game that is so untuned as to provide little incentive for player experimentation, roleplay, and specialization, and hence little replay value sounds fun to me...for about 2 hours until I get the best ships and faceroll the AI, and then never play the game again. To each their own I guess.

No need to be snide, I bought this game 6 years ago to the day and have been playing it nonstop.  I would love to have the game be well tuned and to offer incentives, tremendous incentives, the best incentives anywhere and to have great replayability.  This is the .8 feedback thread, so I'm providing feedback on .8.  It seems to me that most of your feedback is based on a looking-forward basis, if Alex can tune the skills so it was actually worthwhile to replay the game to try out different things then great, you can have that and I'll still enjoy it.  That said, I'd rather see the replayability come via factions, storytelling and the player making choices rather than limitations that feel like penalties more than choices.  Once the economy is improved and I can build my own outposts/faction, I'd rather spend my time doing a mega playthrough on that then lots of smaller playthroughs doing niche things.  Kind of like X3 since you mention it.

27
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 03, 2017, 08:03:43 PM »
I disagree. Skill choices in the game as it is can alter the playstyle in regard to what kind of combat you're seeking out (and what you try to avoid), what kind of missions you're better at, and how efficient it is to build your fleet one way or another. There is room for far more specialization, and I think the game would only benefit by providing it. Sandboxes tell stories, and stories about how youre good at everything are boring. In addition, there are upcoming features that will add more opportunity for specialization.

The only thing keeping the game from enforcing more specialization at present is how wide open the economy is, and how easy it is to make money.  If the economy tightens (as it should), it will no longer be cost efficient to build jack of all trades fleets that can do everything.

 Example: Running bounty missions is profitable if your fleet and skill selection makes your fleet efficient at combat (need to spend fewer supplies on ship deployment and repair costs, need to drag around fewer ships that dont contribute to combat effectiveness). Run a dedicated combat fleet with just enough fuel ships to get you where you need to go and back, and the skills to make that fleet effective at combat with minimal deployment, and bounty missions will always be insanely profitable.  Run a bloated fleet with a bunch of extra salvage and storage ships, skills that dont make you efficient at combat, and you can easily blow the entire mission reward with round trip travel, deployment, and maintenance costs.

The current economy trivializes ship acquisition, supply purchase, and fleet inefficiency, reducing overall game challenge.  If that ever changes, as I expect it has to to provide any kind of challenge, you will have to specialize more to get ahead.  If the game didnt provide a lot of opportunities for specialized playthroughs with different fleet compositions, I would have tired of it long ago. Otherwise the game would be just about pursuing the same superior ships over and over with each playthrough, and I would have tired of that rapidly.

Some games have skill choices that alter your playstyle, this is not that game, at least not right now.  (Case in point, I'm a max industry + leadership/tech build and my fleet can demolish lvl 20 hero battlestations)

Your notion that the game will be so delicately balanced that your skill selection will determine if bounty missions are profitable or not...  Sound so unfun :-\  I really hope we don't end up there.  More power to you if you like it, but we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Besides that, your example seems a bit contradictory.  Right now, anyone and everyone can salvage most things and if you can't salvage something then you blow it up and salvage the debris instead. As such salvage ships are good for everyone.  Further more, if you follow PCCL's example and quintuple supply costs and/or follow your example of locking down the economy more (I think that's what you were implying.  Apologies in advance...), flying 4-20ly to the nearest bounty without storage and fuel ships and industry/leadership skills to reduce those costs will be harder and less efficient

Maybe what you were going for would be well served by having faction specific opportunities.  The games I think told really good stories and had good replayability involved aligning the player with different factions each play through.  Today you could go all Pirate, and that's pretty dope.  Go rob people blind.  Another play-through you could be the bounty hunter and chase down the pirates you used to play as in a previous life.  Be a TT shill or Hegemony officer another day.  Skills have nothing to do with it though.

I think the combat vs. industry dissonance will become worse once the economy is given more depth and there are outposts and all that jazz.

You had a number of other good points that deserve a thoughtful response but I'd rather go fly my Paragons around then keep writing.

28
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 03, 2017, 04:02:24 PM »
I finally found my first Paragon... after prying it from the cold, dead hands of a TT deserter.  Did not get the chance to play with it in the campaign yet.

Come to think of it, I have not recovered an Odyssey yet.  Not sure how well it compares with Legion.  Legion is fun to use when I do not need to control the Astral mad bomber.

At this point, I am well into endgame.  The only new thing left to do that I have not done yet is farm Remnants for their fighters (and kill a battlestation if I want to kill the golden goose).

Ironically, this is a good example for the argument I was making.  For me the odyssey works really well in AI hands because without enough combat oriented skills, it's hard to make the funky layout work (700 range autopulses is no bueno on a ship of that size and layout, i'll just hop in my Paragon which only costs 5 more OP and has built-in mega range extenders).  Personally I'm super annoyed that a skill decision I made forever ago means I can't effectively use one of my favorite ships  >:(

btw, super jealous you got a Paragon without TT commission.  I went the commission route and then snuck into a Hegemony base an gave'em 20 betas to make them friends again (300% rep gain).  No big deal but I was hoping to remain unaffiliated.

29
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 03, 2017, 12:24:24 PM »
Good to know.  I still think the core game should address these issues though because I'd like to see the gameplay balanced around it instead of doing something that feels a bit cheaty (like adding 100 lives in contra cheaty) but thanks for the info!

Welcome. That said though, I disagree that the core game should balance around these issues because... well... that's a matter of preference and I think it's against alex's vision for the game. Personally, my preferences are the direct opposite of yours and I'm using a "cheaty" solution. I have exp gain turned down to 0.3, tripled ship prices and pentapled ship maintenance (in fuel and supplies), among other things to slow down progress and make the game more difficult

Honestly, making it harder doesn't sound bad to me if I could get more of the skills (eventually) or could invest in my ships/mods that better compensate for missed skills.

30
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: May 03, 2017, 12:12:59 PM »
If you can do everything in one game, then every game is the same and there is no reason to play twice.

That applies to games where by making different choices you get a different experience (e.g. WoW, Diablo 3, Fallout).  The skills in this game do not create a different experience.  I do not think it is comparable.


trivially moddable:
data/config/settings:
playermaxlevel: 40 <- change to 100000
xpgainmult: 1 <- change to 1000000

enjoy your invincible godliness

Good to know.  I still think the core game should address these issues though because I'd like to see the gameplay balanced around it instead of doing something that feels a bit cheaty (like adding 100 lives in contra cheaty) but thanks for the info!

If you can do everything in one game, then every game is the same and there is no reason to play twice.
Disagree. The player chooses the direction of the game based on what they feel like doing.
Even with a completely static sector in previous versions which never changed from game to game this was never an issue.

Truth.

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